The communication of data of networks, in some instances, allows unauthorized users to access this information. In many systems, added security is employed to limit unauthorized access. Some of these systems utilize encryption. The encryption and/or decryption of information is often computationally intensive.
Many consumer electronic devices have relatively low processing power for media-rendering. Because of this low processing power, these consumer electronic devices have difficulty in performing cryptographic processing. In many instances it is generally impractical to perform complex cryptographic and media decoding operations in the processors of these devices.
Further, many security schemes, such as many encryption protocols (e.g., digital transmission copy protection (DTCP) protocol), prevent the transfer of content and/or encryption keys to separate processing entities. Therefore, many consumer electronic devices are incapable and/or are severely limited in their abilities to provide users with access to desired content.